No matter where we live,
on the coast or inland,
the oceans are important
to all of us every day.

Observed from space,
our Earth is seen as
predominantly blue,
due to the immense oceans
which cover 71%
of our planet’s surface.
Although 97% of Earth’s
water is in the oceans,
an incredible 95% of
this vast marine world
has yet to be explored.
The importance of
the oceans is highlighted
by the United Nations
declaring June 8th
of each year as
World Oceans Day.

Supreme Master Ching Hai
explained the
importance of our oceans
and the need to conserve
this vital life supporting
system during a May
2009 videoconference
in Togo.

Balanced
marine ecosystems are
extremely important,
as more than two-thirds
of the planet is covered
by oceans.
They provide half
of the world’s oxygen
and play a major part
in regulating
the global climate.
So, life on Earth truly
depends very much
on the ocean for survival.
In addition, oceans also
absorb atmospheric CO2
– carbon dioxide –
which directly helps
to cool our planet.
These are just a few
among the great things
that the oceans do.

To disturb the balance of
the seas, thus, ultimately
places our own lives
in danger.
So, we could say that
it is in our interest to
care for the oceans
if we want to survive,
and all the life that they
contain, including fish.

From the majestic blue
whales to the playful
dolphins, giant seaweed
to colorful coral reefs,
the oceans are home to
nearly half of all known
living species on Earth.
They play an integral role
in our biosphere
by regulating
the climate and weather.

There's a lot of
current systems
in the ocean.
What the oceans
are trying to do
is simply equilibrate heat.

When healthy,
when well preserved,
protected; the oceans
are responsible for
absorbing up to 70% of
all carbon dioxide gas
present in the planet’s
atmosphere.
Normally, society
looks at the seas and sees
that beauty, very beautiful,
everything very blue
and it really seems as if
everything is
very clean and healthy.
But the truth is
very different.

The global ocean ecosystem
is now under
unprecedented threat.
Recent research
led by Dr. Boris Worm
of Dalhousie University
in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Canada, indicates that
up to half of ocean species
have disappeared
due to overfishing.
At the same time,
environmental pollution
and global warming
are also causing
enormous damage
to ocean life,
leading to large-scale
coral bleaching
and the rapid increase
of oceanic dead zones.

We have an impact
from global warming
that is causing the coral
bleaching of reefs.
We have the pollution
of rivers, lakes
and seas made
by people themselves and
also by the quantity of
industries we have today,
which makes it difficult
for oceans to be able to
fulfill their natural role,
which they already possess,
as regulators of
the planet’s climate.

Carbon is both causing
climate change which is
warming, melting
the icecaps, changing
ocean currents, and
ocean temperature which
is affecting all the living
creatures in the ocean.
But carbon is also
causing the oceans to
become more acidic and
with them becoming
more acidic, it means
that all the animals that
build shells, like
crabs and oysters and
coral reefs and krill,
they’re losing their shells.
So that they can’t live
and that’s getting worse
over time.

According to a recent study
by the Virginia Institute
of Marine Science, USA
there were more than
400 known dead zones in
coastal waters worldwide
in 2008, with only 49
such zones in the 1960s.

I was raised in a fishing
village in eastern Canada,
so I saw the damage
that was being done
by the fishing industry
to the oceans
way back in the 1960s.
I think that
we’re looking at a very
dire and serious situation;
the oceans are dying
in our time.

A bit more than 80 percent
of the commercially
exploited stocks
are over-exploited,
they are collapsing.
Some stocks like,
for instance, the lobster
has been collapsing
for a long time already.
The number of fleets
increased three to five times
in the last few decades
in some fishing areas
and the fish stocks
can’t handle such a level
of exploitation anymore.

Aside from such dangers
as acidification and
exploitation by humanity,
marine ecosystems are
at risk of being severely
damaged by oil spills.
Since the April 20, 2010
bursting of
an offshore drilling rig
near Louisiana, USA
hundreds of thousands of
liters of toxic crude oil
have leaked into
the waters of
the Gulf of Mexico.

The US news
organization CNN
reported, “The resulting
slick now threatens
the coastal marshes of
southeastern Louisiana
(USA), where brown,
syrupy oil made it
past protective booms
and into the wetlands
near the mouth of
the Mississippi River.”

With such devastating
catastrophes as these,
it is vital that we turn
our attention to
the precarious state of
our oceans and undertake
all measures to safeguard
our marine ecosystems.
Please stay tuned to
Supreme Master
Television.
Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home
will be right back
after these messages
with our program
on the oceans, the
blue heart of our planet.

And there’s no question
that a healthy human
environment demands
a healthy ocean.
And that
if we seriously harm
the health of the oceans
we will only
be harming ourselves.

Thank you for joining us
on Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home
as we continue with
our program regarding
the state of the world’s
oceans in observance of
World Oceans Day 2010.
In its declaration of
this important day,
the United Nations stated,
“Indeed, human activities
are taking a terrible toll
on the world’s
oceans and seas….
Increased sea temperatures,
sea-level rise and
ocean acidification
caused by climate change
pose a further threat to
marine life, coastal and
island communities and
national economies.”

And of course whatever
happens in the oceans
ultimately affects
the weather on land.
So there are all sorts of
ways in which these two
primary human stressors,
global warming
and overfishing,
have been affecting
the health of our oceans.

There is deep concern
that due to
the enormous quantities
of carbon dioxide
being emitted into
the atmosphere, the oceans
are fast reaching their
saturation point and thus
may be unable to
continue to function
as vital carbon sinks.
The seas, along with
melting permafrost
in the Arctic, may
soon begin to release
vast amounts of
stored greenhouse gases
into the atmosphere, thus
massively accelerating
climate change.

So in terms of amount of
carbon, we have about
40,000 units of carbon
in the ocean.
And then we have
in pre-industrial times,
before humans really
started to change things,
we had about 600 units
in the atmosphere, and
we had about 300 units
in the terrestrial
biosphere.
So in this
three player system,
the ocean is kind of
the 300-pound gorilla
in the system.

There are so many
processes that when the
ocean becomes warmer,
for example, the bacteria
becomes more active.
And that means
the plants break down
before they get to
the deep ocean.
So you release the CO2
again to the atmosphere.
That’s one of the things
I work on.
And I find it very worrying
because that process
alone would be enough to
increase the CO2 in the
atmosphere in the future.

What we’re going to see
if [things] keep going
in this direction is
that other sources
of methane and CO2
are going to start to
be triggered and released
into the atmosphere.
And we won’t be able
to control those even
with the best technology
in the world managing
our own CO2 and
methane emissions.

To effectively protect
our oceans and prevent
such catastrophic events
from happening, we must
look at the root causes
of the destruction
of our marine habitats.

The world
is not in equilibrium.
We have produced a
dis-equilibrium, and part
of that dis-equilibrium
is that we are farming
far more animals than
would appear in nature.

The average
North American eats
meat every day and
that’s not good for us
and it’s not good for
the environment, because
of all the carbon waste,
all the animal waste
that goes into the water
supplies and pollutes
the water and the oceans.

What are fisheries?
Well it’s a whole new
predator;
it’s going in and making
an artificial eater and
putting it into the ocean.
So fishing can very much
change ecosystems
in the ocean and it does.

Ghost waters is a term
used to describe areas
of the ocean that
have been over-fished,
and this is resulting
in decimation of species
around the world,
and this is resulting in
the death of our oceans.

It will take
concerted individual
and collective efforts to
restore and protect
our life-sustaining oceans.
Measures such as
setting aside protected
marine habitats or more
stringent regulations
are laudable, however,
the most important action
that should be taken is
to halt meat, dairy,
and egg consumption
and production, which
are the chief causes
of destruction of
our terrestrial and
oceanic environments.

If we are going to survive
as a species, we have to
understand that
the proper amount of
animal products to have
in our diet is zero.

We have to abolish
commercial fishing;
it’s taking too much
out of the oceans without
returning anything.
And it’s like
a big bush meat trade.
There’s no difference
between that and
going out and wiping out
the sharks and the tuna.
They’re all wild animals
that they’re wiping out.

Every being on Earth
and in the sea has value,
no matter how small
they might look, and
something unique to do
on this planet.
It is our ignoring
of this balance and the
preciousness of all lives
that has contributed
to our global danger
right now
The way to solve
this problem is through
greater consideration
for all lives.
This means we should
respect all lives,
and in action.

If everyone is vegetarian,
better still vegan,
I mean having
an animal-free diet,
then there is
a different outlook,
different conception for
development of all kinds.
In our case,
it will proceed with
compassion and care,
which is what we need
to restore the wonders
of our marine life.

Renowned oceanographer
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
once said, “The sea,
the great unifier,
is man's only hope.
Now, as never before,
the old phrase has
a literal meaning: we are
all in the same boat.”
As we observe
World Oceans Day, let us
heed the urgent calls
of our fellow inhabitants
of the land, air and sea
to save our shared
planetary home.

Thank you for joining us
for today’s Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.
Up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
after Noteworthy News.
May we celebrate
the gifts of the ocean
every day through our
kinder regard for all life
with an organic, vegan diet.